Last Saturday was our first day out on the water. We did a water safety training in the morning, and then headed out on a boat for the afternoon to test out our skills. We took the boat out in the lagoon, which gave us incredible views of Sokehs Rock and many tuna boats. We each got to start the boat and then drive it around a bit for practice.
 |
| That's a view of Sokehs Rock |
 |
| Super hard engine to start! |
 |
| Now we're cruisin'! |
After we had each had our turn we anchored for a while and just swam around. The water feels wonderful!!!! Not too hot and not too cold, just right! And it’s so salty that you can effortlessly float for hours. Luckily Scott had brought his mask, so we each took turns checking out the amazing fish living in the coral. I swear I’m living on the Discovery Channel. It rained on our drive back and all evening.
Sunday was another fun-filled day. I got to try another church with my friend Lori (it makes it really easy every time we meet new people). It rained all during church and after. This time we went to an English speaking service and it was great. I’m so excited to find a place that I like and can get to know some more people there. They were so friendly and welcoming. I even briefly met another couple from Colorado. Being there made me love the island even more. It’s like a little piece of heaven on earth with people from all different nations and tongues worshiping the Lord together! So awesome!
In the afternoon Kate rented a bus for us to ride around the whole island. With stops and everything I think we made it around the entire island in about 3 hours. It was exciting to see even more of what the island has to offer. In one word I would describe it as…green! We made it out to Madolenihmw (pronounced Mad-o-len-eem) and Kitti (the tt makes the ch sound) where 4 WorldTeach teachers will be moving to after orientation.
 |
| The Kitti House |
 |
| The Madolenihmw House |
 |
| Awesome views around the island |
 |
| Awak Marine Park |
In case that wasn’t enough excitement, Kate took us to the Awak Marine Park to do some more swimming with views of the mountains, mangroves, and thousands of fish darting in and out of the coral. Again, I think this is where Discovery Channel gets some of their footage. I need snorkel gear ASAP!!! Oh, and it rained as we were leaving and the rest of the night.
Monday started week 2 of training and quite an experience of how the island operates. It rained ALL day! We started our first Pohnpeian language class that morning; instructor Tony is a Pohnpeian native who lives in Kitti and writes textbooks for Pohnpeian schools to preserve their history, culture and language. Pretty cool! He’s so great to us and really works to improve our basic communication skills. I’m slowly picking it up. The funniest thing was that he explained to us that morning that he was in a hurry getting dressed and didn’t realize until he got to the school that his shirt didn’t have buttons :D After that was when island time really took effect: Tony decided he was done at 10…it was suppose to go til 11. CSP was suppose to do a presentation at 11…never showed. We headed to PICS high school for lunch…the cafeteria is locked. We do a couple of teaching lessons until we’re suppose to have a teacher panel…it’s canceled and moved to Thursday. So basically we accomplished maybe half of what we should have, and that’s all too typical of this place. You learn to be very flexible. It meant we got out early, so we took advantage of the time to hang out at Emily’s place and then tried out a new place called Coco Marina. It was another great find! It’s a big thatched hut overlooking a lagoon and they serve some of the best “American food”.
 |
| Coco Marina |
Tony just continued to become more and more of a character over the past couple of days. He came in Tuesday and stated that he knows our Field Director Kate has plans for us, but he has his own plans. He wants to take at least 2 field trips for us to try our Pohnpeian skills out in the community with Pohnpeians. “We will leave in the morning and come back late at night.” Tony has a high title in the community, so what he says goes. Like Wednesday, he decided we all needed to go the governor’s office to mingle and practice Pohnpeian. We checked out all the offices; the governor has quite the office with a view. I can see how you wouldn’t get anything done in there for all the distractions. Because Tony is Tony he also got us into the youth conference going on and he gave an impromptu speech. I wish my words could do him justice.
 |
| Sittin' at the governor's desk! |
We’ve gotten out of training a little bit early a few days, which has allowed me to explore the town a little more. Our ACE Hardware offers it all. (Oh, it poured down rain on me as I made the mile trek back to my house from there.) I’ve scoped out what’s available, prices, and where you should buy different items. I’ve come to the conclusion that you can buy just about anything you want if you’re willing to spend the money. It’s just that everything’s about 5 times more expensive than it would be in the states. Killer for a girl as frugal as me!
Did I mention that it’s been raining?!?! Haha, I write it all in a joking manner, but it really does rain all the time. I just don’t think you can even imagine. I know I certainly couldn’t even as much as they tried to warn us. Good thing we live on an island where it all just runs off in the ocean! And now I will leave you with a little conglomeration of various views as I’ve walked around town exploring…
I'm about to head off for quite an exciting weekend, so definitely look forward to the next post!
Kasalehlie!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment